History, circa 1841, fair copy

if it were
possible that you could show them all these things which I have committed
unto you. O this unbelieving and stiff necked generation. Mine anger
is kindled against them— Behold verily I say unto you I have reserved
these things, which I have entrusted unto you my Servant
Joseph for a wise purpose in me and it shall
be made known unto future generations. But this generation shall have my
word through you and in addition to your testimony, the testimony of
three of my servants whom I shall call and ordain I shall show these
things and they shall go forth forth with my words that are given through
you Yea they shall know of a surety that these things are true for
from heaven will I declare it unto them. I will give you power to behold
and view these things as they are and to none else will I grant this power
to receive this same testimony among this generation in this the
beginning of the rising up and the coming
forth of my church out of the wilderness. Clear as the moon fair as
the sun and terrible as an army with banners, and the testimony of three
witnesses will I send forth of my words and behold whosoever
believeth on my words them will I visit with the manifestations of my
spirit and they shall be born of the water and of the spirit and you must
wait yet a little while for ye are not yet ordained, and their
testimony shall also go forth unto the condemnation of this
generation if they harden their hearts against them for a desolating
scurge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth and shall
continue to be poured out from time to time if they repent not until
the earth is empty and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and
utterly destroyed by the
[p. 24]

if it were
possible that you could [show?] them all these things which I have committed
unto you. O this unbelieving and stiff necked generation. Mine anger
is kindled against them— Behold verily I say unto you I have reserved
these things, which I have entrusted unto you my Servant
Joseph for a wise purpose in me and it shall
be made known unto future generations. But this generation shall have my
word through you and in addition to your testimony, the testimony of
three of my servants whom I shall call and ordain I shall show these
things and they shall go forth forth with my words that are given through
you Yea they shall know of a surety that these things are true for
from heaven will I declare it unto them. I will give you power to behold
and view these things as they are and to none else will I grant this power
to receive this same testimony among this generation in this the
beginning and of the rising up and the coming
forth of my church out of the wilderness. Clear as the moon fair as
the sun and terrible as an army with banners, and the testimony of three
witnesses will I send forth of my words and behold whosoever
believeth on my words them will I visit with the manifestations of my
spirit and they shall be born of the water and of the spirit and you must
wait yet a little while for ye are not yet ordained, and their
testimony shall also go forth unto the condemnation of this
generation if they harden their hearts against them for a desolating
scurge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth and shall
continue to be poured out from time to time if they repent not until
the earth is empty and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and
utterly destroyed by the
[p. 24]

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

in 1840. There he was immediately engaged by
JS as a clerk at his office. Coray later
reminisced in his autobiography that after he completed his initial assignment,
JS requested that he “undertake, in connection with
E[dwin]
D. Woolley

received his charge,
JS’s and the church’s “history” had been an
ongoing project for a decade. Several early attempts had apparently fallen
short and been abandoned. However, JS and
Sidney
Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

,
had begun to bear fruit. Unfortunately, Mulholland had died
3 November 1839 after inscribing fifty-nine
pages of text in a large record book subsequently designated as volume “A-1”
of the manuscript history of the church.
Robert B. Thompson

1 Oct. 1811–27 Aug. 1841. Clerk, editor. Born in Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Member of Methodist church. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1834. Baptized into LDS church by Parley P. Pratt, May 1836, in Upper Canada. Ordained an elder by John Taylor, 22...

to draft additional historical material, using
sources JS provided. Woolley eventually withdrew from the project and was
replaced by a “Dr. Miller,” who remains unidentified.
Their work evidently resulted in two different kinds of drafts. According to
Coray’s later reminiscences, the first grew out of instructions “not only to
combine, and arrange in cronological order, but to spread out or amplify not a
little, in as good historical style as may be.”
No manuscript matching this description has survived, but their work may have
provided the basis for material subsequently copied into the history by other
scribes.

did, however, produce an edited
version of the narrative inscribed in the large history volume (A-1).
According to Coray’s later account,
JS was directly involved in this reworking of the
history, reading aloud and dictating revisions from the large volume. Two
drafts of this work have survived. However, the main history endeavor continued
in the large history volume, and there is no indication that either draft was
used in subsequent compiling or in publication of the history. Though a
short-lived effort, Coray’s manuscript represents the intention to revise the
history, suggesting that JS had not yet settled on a final historical product
even after he had directed scribes to begin inscribing the history in the
large, more permanent volume in 1839.

’s history draft
includes departures from the material recorded in A-1
which, though minor, show an intention to refine the story. Coray deleted
passages that seemed to be defensive, to plead the cause of the Saints, or to
play on the reader’s sympathies—a list of grievances, for example, or
complaints against individuals. The draft often softened wording about the
persecution of
JS and employed more moderate language in
describing opposition, avoiding the word “mob” and glossing over accounts of
violence.

’s work on
JS’s history was not located until 2005, when two
manuscripts in Coray’s hand were identified among documents in the possession
of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
These two manuscripts consisted of a lightly edited draft
of the material
Mulholland

1 Oct. 1811–27 Aug. 1841. Clerk, editor. Born in Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Member of Methodist church. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1834. Baptized into LDS church by Parley P. Pratt, May 1836, in Upper Canada. Ordained an elder by John Taylor, 22...

had written in the large history
volume, and a fair or clean copy of that material that incorporated the
revisions Coray made in his earlier draft. The first draft
was published in volume 1 of the Histories series of the The Joseph Smith
Papers.
(See History
Drafts, 1838—ca. 1841.)
The second or “fair copy” of the two drafts is the
document herein featured. An inscription in Coray’s handwriting at the bottom
of the first page of this document identifies it as the second copy. In
1869 Coray signed a statement that was later
attached to the paper wrapper that enclosed the two drafts: “These hundred
pages of History were written by me, under Joseph the Prophet’s dictation.
Dr Miller helped me a little in writing the same.”